


Fixing the Winchesters

by bluejay_unit



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Gore, Team Free Will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 02:11:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5988550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluejay_unit/pseuds/bluejay_unit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas finds it a rough job, trying to keep Sam and Dean from falling apart. Humans can break in so many ways. In which Dean gets his guts ripped out, Sam gets an identity crisis, and a mystified Cas learns he hadn't known as much about people as he thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fixing the Winchesters

Castiel sank to the ground, felt the rain pound his back and the cold mud stain his knees, and wondered why the Winchesters had to be so goddamn stupid all the time.

Sam had called him a few minutes ago, and before he even spoken a word, Cas knew it was bad. A simple hunt, nothing they’d expected any trouble from, he’d said. A confrontation with a witch outside of the bunker had been going fine. That was, until she hit Dean with a spell that sliced him a gaping abdomen wound, leaving him struggling to keep his intestines from falling out.

Cas had been there instantly, of course, brushing past a panicked Sam to kneel where Dean lay passed out and bloody on the roadside. He delicately pressed a hand to the wound, shivering at the feel of Dean’s blood coating his fingers before the white glow spread out from his hands, slowly knitting him back together. Yes, the wound was bad, but not unfixable. Cas had the Grace it needed, it would just take time. But as the healing stretched in to the tenth minute, Castiel could feel Sam growing antsy beside him.

“Are you sure it’s working? Is something wrong with your Grace?” he asked.

Cas listened, but did not look away from the wound he was grafting back together.

“There’s nothing wrong with my Grace. I can heal him, I just need time,” he answered patiently.

Sam shook his head. “Right, sorry. I know you already said that, it’s just…I feel like I’ve been so useless to him lately,” he added bitterly.

That got Cas to look up.

“Sam, you are very valuable to your brother?” he insisted, turning it into a question not because he doubted the words, but because he treated that fact close to a law of the universe, something far more dependable than anything his superiors in heaven had ever promised him. Castiel didn’t understand why Sam needed to be told that.

Sam sighed heavily. “Dean and I saved each other’s lives so often I used to just assume I’d always be able to, you know? Like he couldn’t die as long as I kept refusing to let it happen, but then…” He swallowed thickly, shuffling his feet. “But then I couldn’t stop him from going to hell, I mean, I tried _everything_ , and I _still_ wasn’t enough to save him. When you pulled him out, it was like I failed a test or something. I’ve been trying to shake the feeling ever since that I’ve been benched for it.” 

Cas stared at him, mystified. Behind him, the last of Dean’s wounds disappeared under the haze of white light. He stood up and turned to Sam, wiping his hands on his coat. 

“Believe me, you have not _failed_ anything, least of all looking out for Dean.” Castiel stared down at his hands as the last lingering glow of light faded from the tips of his fingers. “I know it may not seem this way, but my Grace is no substitute for what you two have, the way you take care of each other.”

Sam shook his head, raindrops flying from the ends of his soaked hair. “It’s not fair to keep asking you to swoop in and save him last minute everytime I mess up my job.”

“You don’t even have to ask, Sam,” he insisted. “The support and trust you and Dean have shown me… I’ve never experienced anything like it before. Even when I served heaven, even the greatest loyalties I had were based on obedience and fear. So I’m going to keep helping the two of you in any way that I can. And that would be no different if I had no powers to share at all.”

Sam stared at his shoes, at a loss for what to say. 

Castiel continued, “And I don’t want you to think I brought Dean back from hell by myself. It took an _army_ of angels just to fight through the defenses… Can I be honest with you for a moment?”

Sam looked up, nodded.

“I think we can both admit that taking care of Dean is _at least_ a two person job.”

Cas watched Sam’s expression lighten with the flicker of a smile. 

Then Dean woke with a loud gasp behind them.

Cas whirled around, Sam was already at Dean’s side, calling frantically to him.

“Dean! Dean, are you okay?”

Sam backed up slightly as Dean sat up quickly, breathing heavily and eyes darting around. 

“Wha—? What happened? D’you gank the witch? Awesome.” He leaned back on his elbows, panting. He grabbed Sam’s outstretched hand and hauled himself up. Cas stepped closer.

“Dean?” he asked worriedly, unsure if he remembered getting injured. “How do you feel?”

Dean considered for a second.

“Starving, actually. I don’t know about you two, but I could really go for some burgers.” He clapped them both on the back with a grin and headed inside.

Cas turned back to Sam, who was staring after Dean like he’d seen a ghost. Well, like other people looked when they’ve just seen a ghost.

He sighed. “I know. But if he doesn’t remember the injury, I don’t think we ought to remind him… Are you alright?”

Sam had buried his face in his elbow and slumped against Cas’s shoulder. His breathing slowed, from almost as fast as Dean’s had been a moment ago. A flash of lightning cut across the sky. Cas put his arm around Sam’s shoulders to help keep him upright. A heavy roll of thunder followed.

“Come on, Sam, let’s get you inside, huh?”

Cas led him inside, out of the rain, unsure if Sam had even heard him when he heard a small “Thanks, Cas,” against his shoulder.

The hardest part of fixing the Winchesters, Castiel thought, was figuring out which one was broken.


End file.
